1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device which includes a circuit including a semiconductor element such as a transistor, and a method for manufacturing the semiconductor device. For example, the present invention relates to a power device which is mounted on a power supply circuit; a semiconductor integrated circuit including a memory, a thyristor, a converter, an image sensor, or the like; an electro-optical device typified by a liquid crystal display panel; a light-emitting display device including a light-emitting element; and an electronic device on which any of the above is mounted as a component.
In this specification, a semiconductor device means all types of devices which can function by utilizing semiconductor characteristics, and an electro-optical device, a light-emitting display device, a semiconductor circuit, and an electronic device are all semiconductor devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Transistors formed over a glass substrate or the like are typically formed using amorphous silicon, polycrystalline silicon, or the like, as typically seen in liquid crystal display devices. Although transistors formed using amorphous silicon have low field-effect mobility, they can be formed over a larger glass substrate. On the other hand, although transistors formed using polycrystalline silicon have high field-effect mobility, they are not suitable for being formed over a larger glass substrate.
In view of the foregoing, attention has been drawn to a technique by which a transistor is manufactured using an oxide semiconductor, and such a transistor is applied to an electronic device or an optical device. For example, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 disclose a technique by which a transistor is manufactured using zinc oxide or an In—Ga—Zn—O-based oxide as an oxide semiconductor, and such a transistor is used as a switching element of a pixel or the like of a display device.
It has been pointed out that hydrogen is a supply source of carriers particularly in an oxide semiconductor. Therefore, some measures need to be taken to prevent hydrogen from entering the oxide semiconductor at the time of depositing the oxide semiconductor. Variation in threshold voltage is suppressed by reducing hydrogen contained in not only the oxide semiconductor but also a gate insulating film in contact with the oxide semiconductor (see Patent Document 3).